Title: Open Hands

Summary: Always remember to leave a note and double check for it.

Prompt: #13 "Hand Holding"

Timeline: Galaxy (Lost Galaxy Arc, Post-"Until Sunset"); Mike is 27, Leo is 22

"Mike, we found Leo and Damon. They were on Captain Mutiny's planet, get to the infirmary."

Mike was sure he was already moving before Kai finished relaying the news to him, the befuddled look on Stanton's face was a blur as he flew through the sliding doors and down the hall.

The near-empty halls went by in a blur of white, black and bodies occupying random spaces, there wasn't a lot of thinking in involved in where he was going. He was out of the command quarters in the blink of an eye and running across the bridging pathway that connected the base to the hospital wing. The sterile walls of the building were brighter than usual, white coats looked compelled to stop the man running through the crowded halls bustling with doctors and patients alike.

That's when Maya chose to appear from around the corner, head raised and looking for any sign of him. "Maya," Mike didn't come to a complete stop until he was almost on top of her. Maya sidestepped him gracefully, her hands took hold of his and brought him to a halt. "Are they alright?" He asked. "Is Leo alright?" was the more pressing question and Maya understood that much as she shook her head. "More or less," She replied, eliciting a loud sigh from the older brother. "The doctor says they'll have to stay overnight for dehydration and sunburn."

"What were those two thinking?" He muttered aloud, scowling. "Why didn't they leave a note or a video message-?"

"They thought they did," Maya replied. "Leo thought he told Damon to write it, Damon figured Leo wrote it."

"Typical." Leo he could see running off without leaving a note out of pure absentmindedness, but Damon? He always saw Damon was the more composed of the two. His eyes cut over to Maya, who was trying her best not to become over-consoling as she rubbed his knuckles. "We're just lucky Alpha knew where to find them," She smiled, shaking her head. "I'm not sure why we never think to ask for his help more when somebody goes missing like this." Your guess is as good as mine, Mike thought as he shrugged.

She lead him down the hall toward the room, he spotted Kai sitting outside on the bench, reading a datapad. Kai didn't acknowledge their approach at first, too caught up in what he reading, apparently. However, a distracted glance toward the hospital door in front of him alerted him to their presence immediately. He greeted both of them with a civil nod and rose from his spot on the bench. "Karone's inside with them," He said.

On the other side of the door, Leo lay on the gurney trying to keep as still as possible. His eyes studied the bag of water that hung next to his bed, IV providing the means for his body to absorb it without rejecting it completely. Everything on his body felt over-taut or ready to fall off from a supposed lack of circulation, he was betting the medication wasn't helping his sense of togetherness (or lack thereof).

His arms lay lifelessly on his sides, his wrists had been wrapped in gauze for their injuries, it hurt to move to see if anything else besides was bandaged up in any particular way. A sideways glance over to the right revealed his companion Damon, fast asleep and oblivious to any discomfort he might've been experiencing. Karone sat on the other side of his bed, one hand clasped around his and her head resting on the edge of his pillow. Her eyes would occasionally drift over to him, earning a sheepish smile or a sigh that seemed to ask 'why are you still awake and he isn't?' If Leo hadn't suspected something early on, he probably would've assumed the meds in his water were playing tricks on his mind.

The door opened, Leo shifted his gaze over to the entrance of the room as Kai, Maya and Mike entered. He studied the noncommittal expressions that sudden befell the three of them as Mike broke away from Maya, hands sliding out of hers. Leo puzzled over the display, eyes focusing on Maya. She was still watching his brother, a look of disenchantment glossed over her features before she was distracted by Kai nudging her in the side.

Mike positioned himself on right of the bed, the look in his eye was a mixture of relief and discontent as he looked his little brother over. For lack of a better word, if he wasn't laid up in the bed, Leo knew his brother would've cuffed him over the head for their stunt. "Hey, Mike," He murmured, inclining his head slightly. "We found Captain Mutiny's planet."

"So, I heard," Mike mused, pulling the vacant chair over to the bed. "Looks like you got a little suntan too." Leo eyes fell downcast to regard his tender skin, peeling and red as the tank top he'd been wearing. "I think I might've overdone it a little." He paused, eyes shifting over to Damon's bed. "Damon looks alright, though."

Mike took a moment to regard his friend's still form, aside from the peeling, Damon's skin definitely didn't look as distressed as his brother. In fact, he'd go as far as thinking Damon looked no different from before his barbeque in the sun. "I'd have to agree," Mike said, grinning. "Kai had said the planet had fallen off the radar, he couldn't even find it using the Astro Megaship's tracking equipment. So, how'd you two find it?"

"Well, that's the funny thing, really. We didn't find it, Deca did," Damon's groggy voice startled the attention of everyone in the room. Karone sat upright, a bright smile on her face as she regarded the bemused expression on the man's face. "You're awake!"

"Yeah, no thanks to you guys," Damon mumbled, cracking open one eye. "You ever heard of indoor voices?"

"But we are using are using indoor voices," Maya said, perplexed by his statement. Kai rolled his eyes good-naturedly at the bedridden mechanic, knowing full well what he actually meant to say with that statement. "How did Deca find it exactly?" He inquired, moving the conversation away from Damon's interrupted beauty sleep.

"Okay, me and Leo were on the simu deck, sparring, when Deca interrupted the simulation and announced that she detected an anomaly right where Mutiny's planet had been," Damon explained, eye shifting over to Leo.

It took the younger Corbett a moment or so before he realized Damon was handing the reigns of the tale over to him. When his bother nudged him, he bit back a wince and resumed the tale. "When we went to check out what she was talking about, the radar definitely was saying that there was a mass in the big empty space where his planet should've been and was. Alpha said he might've cloaked it with magic, but only a sorceress like Rita Repulsa might've been able to do it."

"So, then happened?" Mike asked, despite knowing the general outline of events that occurred afterward. Leo winced when he shrugged his shoulders. "We jumped into our Jammers and went to check out the coordinates. It was definitely the same planet we'd been to before. The slave camps were still there," He replied. "We got ambushed by Deviot and Barbarax and hung out to roast in the sun for our troubles."

"Did a lot thinking out in that sun," Damon murmured. "I never do that much thinking again."

"I hear ya, man," Leo concurred warily. "I thought my head was gonna explode."

"Well, maybe next time you'll remember let someone know where you're going," Mike retorted, resisting the urge to punch his brother's shoulder. Leo frowned in protest, scooting away from the Mike's side of the bed. "Doesn't Alpha count for anything?" He asked.

"No, especially since he'd shut himself down to recharge after you left," Karone rebuked. "We'd spent the entire time looking around the colony for you and had to wait until he came out of stasis to ask him anything."

"That was an entire day, mind you," Kai added. Leo and Damon had anything to say in their defense, knowing the others were largely right about the entire situation. Mike tapped his brother on the arm, eliciting a genuine flinch from the young man who was beginning to believe his brother was just looking to poke a sun burnt man. "Seriously, Mike, that hurts!" Leo practically snapped.

Mike raised his hands in mock-surrender. "Hey, I don't mean to poke. I'm just glad your okay," He said.

"Well, that makes two of us."